Tuesday, October 28

Flocabulary homework is due Thursday at the beginning for our reading block for both 7th and 8th grade reading.

Please remember to bring a pumpkin for pumpkin decorating on Thursday!  Students are also welcome to bring food to share.

Projects:
Students continue to collaborate and research child labor during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

8th Grade Reading:
Working on building reading and writing stamina through Daily Five.  Student-teacher conferencing;

7th Grade Reading:
Students broke up into Socs and Greasers for an exercise with our novel, The Outsiders.  We had a great discussion about why some want to be Socs and why some prefer being Greasers.  This is a wonderful book that addresses a lot of issues that teens face every day.

Writing:
Working on 6 word memoirs for our expressive/reflective writing unit.  I'm really enjoying listening to the kids read them off.

Monday, October 27

Flocabulary homework for both 7th and 8th grade reading blocks is due this Thursday, October 30, at the beginning of the block.

Projects:
Continuing to research child labor in America during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

8th Grade Reading:
Introduced this week's Week in Rap with Flocabulary.  Packet due Thursday.

7th Grade Reading:
Outsiders quiz chapters 1-4
Wee in Rap with Flocab.  Packet due Thursday

Writing:
S.O.W. skill review and  sentence imitation
Students are working on determining the difference between expressive writing and reflective writing.  We will work on writing both types.

***7th Grade Halloween celebration is this Thursday at 1:30 (ish).  Don't forget to bring in a pumpkin to decorate!

Wednesday, October 22

Flocabulary homework is due tomorrow (Thursday) at the beginning of the class period.

Projects:
The new unit on the Gilded Age/Progressive Age is underway!  Students broke into their separate roles.  I am teaching child labor and am looking forward to a great couple of weeks with the students.

8th Grade Reading:
Students are reading the poem "The Wreck of the Hesperus" by Longfellow.  It's a narrative poem and we will take a couple of weeks with this one.  It's just too long to try to finish with in our normal one day a week poetry allotment.  Students read it today and are working in groups to dramatize this sad, sad story.

7th Grade Reading:
Same as 8th (poetry every Wednesday)

Writing:
Students met with me regarding their Chautauqua performance and we discussed their rubric.  All students are writing a reflection regarding their performance and are focusing on strengths, weaknesses, like, dislikes, etc.

Book Fair Family Night is tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 23) from 6:00-8:00.  I hope to see everyone there!

Please don't forget our Family Night for the book fair this Thursday from 6-8 pm.  Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Projects:
Today we watch "The KKK vs the Mafia" documentary.  It was an informative, interesting start to our project on the Progressive Era.

8th Grade Reading:
We visited the book fair today and student work on their reading strategies.

7th Grade Reading:
We visited the book fair and read chapter 5 of The Outsiders.  The students are loving this book.

Writing:
Wrapped up Chautauquas and are reflecting on how those went individually.

Don't forget to send money with students who wish to visit the book fair during school hours.

Monday, October 20

Projects:
Students finished Glogs and turned them in.  Tomorrow we will begin a new project covering the Progressive Era/Gilded Age

8th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary/Week in Rap  Students listened to and watched this week's rap.  Flocabulary packet is due on Thursday at the beginning of class.  It's the assigned homework for the week.

7th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary/Week in Rap  Students listened to and watched this week's rap.  Flocabulary packet is due on Thursday at the beginning of class.  It's the assigned homework for the week.

Writing:
Students presented their Chautauquas, and we will continue this tomorrow.  Great job all!

Wednesday, October 15

Flocabulary homework due tomorrow (Thursday) for both 8th and 7th reading students!

Projects:
We are still work on glogs to who an in depth understanding of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and Black Codes.

8th Grade Reading:
Poetry Wednesday!!!  Kids read and annotated the poem "The Poison Tree," by William Blake.  I am LOVING how these 8th graders are responding to poetry and going deep with it.

7th Grade Reading:
Same as 8th grade today.  Seventh graders love poetry, also, and are working to think critically about it and find meaning in figurative language.

Writing:
Working on Chautauqua presentations.  The students worked hard today to memorize these.  Tomorrow we will practice and dress up.  I will time them and work on building a presentation schedule.

Monday, October 13

Projects:
Students began working on their online posters on the Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes, and Reconstruction using Glogster.  These are due on Thursday.

8th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary:  Students watched the video and we discussed all events, using prior knowledge to connect to this week's news.
Flocabulary Homework due Thursday.  Students should give detailed responses in complete sentences.

7th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary:  Students watched the video and we discussed all events, using prior knowledge to connect to this week's news.
Flocabulary Homework due Thursday.  Students should give detailed responses in complete sentence

Writing:
Students worked on Chautauqua presentations.  These are due Thursday, and presentations are next Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday, October 8

Projects:
Students are working on building understanding of Reconcstruction, the Black Codes, and Jim Crow Laws.  We will start online posters using Glogster on Monday.

8th Grade Reading:
In poetry, students completely wowed me (that might not be a word) with their role playing with the poem "Speak Up."  We will continue building reading skills through CAFE tomorrow and next week.

7th Grade Reading:
My 7th graders impressed me, also, with their role playing.  I'm hoping that poetry is growing on everyone, and that by the end of the year we will all be a little better at analyzing it.  Tomorrow is chapter 2 of The Outsiders.  They're loving this book already.

Writing:
Continuing work on Chautauqua timelines and presentations.  Students are doing a great job, but it's crunch time. :)  I'm seeing some great costumes coming together.....You have to love Thrifty Finds!

Tomorrow is Pizza Thursday.  Can't believe how the weeks fly by!

Wednesday, Oct. 1

Projects:
We studied how to make amendments to the constitution.  Tomorrow we will put information about the 13, 14, and 15 amendments into a newspaper document.  On Monday we will begin working on making an online poster dealing with the Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes, and Reconstruction.

7th and 8th Grade Reading:
Today we  worked on figurative language posters to reinforce our knowledge of what poets and other authors use.  Week in Rap homework is due for both blocks tomorrow.

Writing:
Continued researching and writing about our characters for chautauqua.

It's Pizza Thursday tomorrow! :)